Election Year opens in Florida with the two top races too close to call, according to a Quinnipiac
University poll released today.

The top Republican presidential challenger, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney, has
46 percent of registered voters to President Barack Obama's 43 percent. If former Pennsylvania
Sen. Rick Santorum gets the GOP nomination, he scores 43 percent to President Obama's 45
percent, the independent Quinnipiac (KWIN-uh-pe-ack) University poll finds.

In Florida's U.S. Senate race, Democratic incumbent Bill Nelson has 41 percent, with 40
percent for his leading Republican challenger, U.S. Rep. Connie Mack.

The president has a solidly negative 42 - 54 percent job approval rating and Florida voters
say 52 - 44 percent that he does not deserve a second term in the Oval Office.

"Florida is among the most important swing states in the country and if the election was
today President Barack Obama would have difficulty winning its electoral votes," said Peter A.
Brown, assistant director of the Quinnipiac University Polling Institute.

"But the election isn't for 10 more months so he has plenty of time to turn things around.
Nevertheless, President Obama needs to mend fences in the Sunshine State, especially among
men, whites and those voters without college degrees. The difference among voters by age is
especially striking."

In his matchup with Romney, the president wins 84 percent of Democrats, 47 percent of
independent voters and only 4 percent of Republicans. By comparison, Romney takes 9 percent
of Democrats. The president carries women 46 - 41 percent, but loses men 52 - 40 percent, "a
yawning gender gap," said Brown.

The president carries voters 18 to 49 years old 51 - 39 percent, but loses 49 - 40 percent
among voters 50 to 64 years old and loses 53 - 39 percent among voters over 65.

"The problem for Obama is that those over 50 make up 62 percent of the electorate,
compared to the 35 percent who are under 50," Brown added.

"In the matchup with Santorum, the president does slightly better across-the-board,
which results in the overall dead-heat. At this point Romney runs a bit better against Obama
than does Santorum, but the former Pennsylvania senator isn't nearly as well-known as either
Romney or the president," Brown said.

Florida voters give Santorum a 31 - 25 percent favorability rating, with 42 percent who
don't know enough about him to form an opinion. He gets a 56 - 8 percent favorability from
Republicans, with 35 percent who haven't heard enough. Romney gets a 47 - 29 percent
favorability among all voters, with 74 - 14 percent among Republicans.

In the U.S. Senate race, Congressman Mack gets 39 percent in the GOP primary, which is
held in August. Mike McCalister and former U.S. Sen. George LeMieux are way behind with 6
percent each. No other candidate tops 2 percent. Another 42 percent are undecided.

"Connie Mack remains far ahead of the GOP field and there has been little movement
since he entered the race late last year. With four out of 10 GOP primary voters still undecided,
nothing is certain, but one would much rather be in Mack's shoes than any of the other GOP
contenders," Brown said.

Nelson has a 47 - 30 percent job approval rating and a 41 - 23 percent favorability rating.
"Good but not great," said Brown, "and voters say 44 - 35 percent he deserves another six years
in the Senate."

From January 4 - 8, Quinnipiac University surveyed 1,412 registered voters with a margin
of error of +/- 2.6 percentage points. Live interviewers call land lines and cell phones.

The Quinnipiac University Poll, directed by Douglas Schwartz, Ph.D., conducts public
opinion surveys in Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Florida, Ohio, Virginia
and the nation as a public service and for research.
For more data or RSS feed- http://www.quinnipiac.edu/polling.xml, call (203) 582-5201, or
follow us on Twitter.

2. (If Registered Republican) If the Republican primary for United States Senator were being held today, and the candidates were: Connie Mack, Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Craig Miller and Mike McCalister, for whom would you vote?

TREND: (If Registered Republican)If the Republican primary for United States Senator were being held today, and the candidates were: Connie Mack, Adam Hasner, George LeMieux, Craig Miller and Mike McCalister, for whom would you vote? (na=not asked, 2011 wording referenced "2012 election")

TREND: If the election for President were being held today, and the candidates were Barack Obama the Democrat and Mitt Romney the Republican, for whom would you vote? (2011 wording referenced "2012 election")

10. Compared to past presidential elections, how would you describe your level of enthusiasm about voting in this year's presidential election; are you more enthusiastic than usual, less enthusiastic, or about the same as usual?

TREND: Compared to past presidential elections, how would you describe your level of enthusiasm about voting in this year's presidential election; are you more enthusiastic than usual, less enthusiastic, or about the same as usual? (2011 wording referenced "2012 election")

TREND: If the election for United States Senator were being held today and the candidates were Bill Nelson the Democrat and Connie Mack the Republican, for whom would you vote? (2011 wording referenced "2012 election")